Description:
Scene from the New Testament (Matthew 2: 13-14) created by Ruth Pease (1789-1858) while a student at the Misses Patten's school in Hartford, Connecticut, during the summer and early fall of 1804. Pease, who came from Blanford, Massachusetts, previously attended the Patten school in 1803 for at least one term. In a letter written to her father Abner Pease on October 12, 1804, Ruth writes "...I have now begn two small pieces of painting which represent our Savior's flight into and return from Egypt with his parents." This suggests that Historic Deerfield's example may one of a pair (the location of the second picture is unknown). Ruth also tells her father that she is not finished with the pieces, and asks him to delay fetching her from the school for another week. Otherwise, she writes, she will work on the most difficult parts of the composition now (premsumably with the help of the instructor(s), and finish the remainder at home.

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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+81.012

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